Lost and Better Off Not Found
by phoenixmaiden13
Summary: Missing for 8 years Harry Potter is finally found and returns to the wizarding world and he is taking them by storm. Bitches better watch out, this Harry Potter doesn't take no shit from nobody.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all! This is just another one of my plot bunnies that was banging around in my head and I wrote this down. Don't know what is really going to happen with this one but I hope you like it.**

**For my fans, this is not a slash story. Yeah, I know sorry. In here Harry is bisexual so there will be references to sexual acts of both varieties, just so you're warned.**

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**Lost and Better Off Not Found**

**Chapter 1**

Albus Dumbledore sat behind his worn oak desk in the most comfortable chair that he could conjure at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was known as the strongest most powerful wizard alive in this age. Was Supreme Mugwump, defeated the Dark Lord Grindelwald and was awarded Order of Merlin, First Class. People came to him for advice and wisdom, to solve their problems and looked to him with respect and awe. And as Headmaster he was the epitome of what all the young witches and wizards aspire to be when they pass through the famed walls of Hogwarts.

And yet…he had lost one boy.

And not just any boy, the boy-who-lived! The "savior" of the wizarding world, Harry Potter.

He had assumed that he would be safe with his relatives. Grow up away from the fame that the defeat of Lord Voldemort had brought and safe from any of his loyal followers who decided to extract revenge for their lord. When he turned 11, Harry would be ready to re-enter the wizarding world with fresh eyes and a healthy appetite for knowledge.

Instead, all of the school owls that had been sent to give young Harry Potter his letter had returned, unopened, with his address as "unknown." At first Albus had thought nothing of it, thinking that the wards were keeping the owls out and he sent more with spells to get through them, yet they returned again. So he had the brilliant idea to send Hagrid to fetch him. It was only fitting since he was the one to take him out of the wizarding world that he would be the one to bring him back in. So he sent the friendly half-giant to the Dursley's. But Hagrid came back with the most devastating news.

Harry Potter was not there. What was worse he was not even living there. Hadn't been for the past eight years!

How could he have not have known that? How could he have let the most precious boy in the wizarding world to slip unnoticed through his fingers? He should have checked up on him, he should have kept in touch. So many things he could have done to prevent this from happening, yet he had done nothing.

But Albus was not the only ones who did nothing. The Dursley's had known that Harry was missing and had neglected to say anything or to contact him. Their reason: they had no way to get in touch with him. This was not true. Albus had given Petunia Dursley a piece or parchment that was enchanted to connect with a piece of parchment that he kept with him at all times. If she had wanted to contact him, she could have. The simple fact was that they just didn't care that Harry was gone.

Albus was shocked and appalled by this when he had met with them. There were no pictures or belongings of Harry's throughout the house. It was like he never even existed, which was probably what they wanted. He understood that dropping Harry off at the Dursley's for them to raise was probably a burden to them, at least in the beginning it would, but that they would in time love him like their own. Instead they did not even have an ounce of remorse that he was gone, they were ashamed that they had gotten caught but other than that, there was nothing.

The only thing Albus had found out from those appalling muggles was that one day Harry was there, the next he was gone, along with all of his belongings. So it was not that he was taken, he had left, on his own. A four year old toddler out there on the streets by himself. Merlin, have mercy. The boy could be dead!

No. He mustn't think that way. The Potters were always smart and resourceful, it was in his blood. Harry would be fine, had to be fine. Yet as he sat there in his office pouring over maps of London his torturous mind supplied him with vivid images of young Harry in disastrous situations. Ragged and starved out on the streets, diseased, turned to, heaven for bid, prostitution, captured by Death Eaters…

When all this came to light, Albus gathered up the old crowd and explained what happened. They had all been rightfully outraged and scandalized, but they were all willing to help. They also understood their need for discretion. The Ministry couldn't know of this unfortunate accident, not only because the whole wizarding world would find out but because then they would be involved and Albus knew that Cornelius would take advantage of the situation and if he found Harry, he would take him and use him for political reasons. Albus couldn't subject Harry to that.

So he and the Order scoured the muggle and wizarding world for any sign of Harry Potter. And they found nothing. Not a trace. But they didn't give up, they couldn't give up. But now, three years later and they were starting to lose hope. The boy, now 14 years old, at the peak of his magical powers and there was nothing. No sign of accidental magic, no trace of a boy with bright green eyes and a lightning bolt scar. It was impossible to believe that they were unable to produce any results, unless…

Albus refused to think on it, refused to think on how he had failed Lily and James, failed to protect their only child.

It was all starting to become too much. With his duties as Headmaster and as Supreme Mugwump in the Wizengamot, plus the search for Harry he was becoming rather swamped. But not only that the public and the Ministry were becoming suspicious. Everyone had been expecting for Harry to make his debut at Hogwarts when he was eleven, but he had not shown up. Albus had made his excuses: Harry was shy and didn't want to come out, was frightened of all the new things around him, his relatives didn't want him to leave…and it worked, for the first year at least. But now three year later and still no Harry Potter…. The masses were demanding to know where their savior was and the Ministry was starting to breathe down his neck.

If only-

His door suddenly banged open and Minerva stood there panting, hair falling out of her bun and robes eschew.

"Minerva. What brings you by?" he asked pleasantly, "Lemon dr-"

"We found him!" she gasped out, interrupting him, "We found Potter!"

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**So there you go. My undeveloped plot bunny. I think I have one or two more chapters bouncing around so they'll be out as soon as my brain can throw them up.**

**phoenix**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay, I managed to write another chapter. I couldn't believe how many reviews and followers I got as soon as I posted this. It's absolutely amazing. Its so exciting to watch my inbox number go up as you guys read it, thanks so much. **

**Anyways, here's the next chapter. Oh and just so you know. I was listening to Franz Ferdinand "Do you want to," and Deadmau5 "Professional Griefers" as I was writing this. It goes with the story.**

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**Lost and Better Off Not Found**

**Chapter 2**

Harry Potter, 14 years old, resident magical being, was having fun.

A week ago he had been club hopping, partying as usual for a Sunday night when he noticed he was being followed. By weird people in dresses no less. They looked harmless, but he was still not going to let them any where near him, they could be from some sort of cult after his powers.

Oh he knew about magic. He had known about it since he was little. It was hard not to when things would suddenly start floating around you or somehow ending up somewhere you weren't a second ago. But instead of feeling frightened by his new found powers, he felt empowered. He wasn't stupid enough to not know he was the only one with it, he had found some houses with "special" interiors. They had been most helpful in finding out more information about himself and what he could do, which was almost anything. It also made living out on his own much easier.

When he saw those people, Harry decided to see how far they would go, so he led them on a merry chase through London. It surprisingly lasted quite a while, these people were persistent, and so he turned it up a notch and lost them within a few hours.

This was a good thing since he had school in the morning. He would have to keep an eye out though; they didn't seem like the type to give up that easily.

Turned out he was right because a few days later he spotted them down the street from his school, but he had hid before that had seen them. And then he saw them again by his work and again by his apartment. They were getting closer and closer and it was making Harry uneasy. But if he had to he would show them who was boss.

But he was having fun with them, the more frustrated they apparently got the funnier it got. Apparently they were not after him for no reason either; he found out that they knew his name because they would call out to him, so he definitely knew they were after him. But then shit became more serious. Harry saw them doing magic. That meant they were definitely looking for him. It was probably about time that he looked into this other side of the world but he was having so much fun on his own. He hoped they didn't place him in a home or something that would totally suck balls. He was doing just fine on his own, thank you very much. But if they had magic, that meant they had the means to find him. So it was only a matter of time before they caught up to him.

But that didn't mean he couldn't have fun while it lasted.

xxx

Albus Dumbledore accompanied by Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Severus Snape, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphdora Tonks were hot on the trail of one elusive Harry Potter. In the beginning it had only been three of them, thinking it wouldn't be that much trouble to round up one teenage boy. How wrong they were.

Not only did Harry know they were looking for him, he was purposefully evading them and enjoying it to boot as testified by the wide smile they had seen on his face one of the times they had gotten close enough.

It had been a shock when they had first laid eyes on him. Dumbledore had been expecting the worst, but instead the exact opposite. Harry had grown since the last time he had seen him, but he had been expecting that. He stood at about 5'6, on the skinny side but he was healthy and seemingly happy. But what had surprised them was how the looked. Like his father of course, but his hair was cut short in the back, long in the front covering most of this right eye and more importantly his scar. Light blue streaks of color were in his hair, blending into the ebony tresses. Black kohl lined his vivid green eyes that were not hindered by glasses. He wore tight fitting black jeans and a black band shirt and it also looked like he had his lip pierced. He hoped he was wrong. It was so completely different from what he had been expecting, he didn't know what to think.

But that hadn't been the only thing surprising about him, he knew about magic and what was more, he knew how to use it. Harry was surprisingly quick and agile on his feet as it was but added with falling boxes magically appearing and a flood of water somehow gushing out of a drain among other things it was near impossible to catch him. Not only that, but he was 14 and he knew how to apparate! It was amazing, extraordinary and down right frustrating. Which was why, when it became apparent that three would not do, he enlisted the others to help.

Shacklebolt and Tonks were experienced Aurors, he had brought Severus along in hopes that his own magic and intimidating demeanor might help, Minerva of course was there in the beginning, Remus had an excellent nose and of course the newly exonerated Sirius couldn't pass up the chance of seeing his godson. Not to mention the two Marauders would have a few tricks up their sleeves to catch Harry, but nothing worked.

Finally, after 3 weeks of eluding capture, they were able to pin point where Harry was and it was not where they expected. So on a Friday night in the middle of December, the tracked Harry down to a club, and not just any club.

The seven of them walked through the double doors and were greeted by the sight of two young males engaged in a lurid act. To the side of them were another, and another; pressed against walls, chairs, couches. And not only men, there were women too, kissing and touching each other in a way that was not meant for public viewing.

"Oh…my," Minerva gasped out.

"W-Where are we?" Tonks asked her vibrant pink hair dulling a few shades. She went red in the face when a scantily clad young woman walked by, looked her up and down and winked.

"I-I think we are in a gay bar," Remus stuttered, then promptly slapped Sirius in the arm as his attention slipped to a pair of women rutting against each other.

"Is Harry even gay?" Sirius asked, distractedly. Remus shrugged.

"Are we sure we are in the right place?" Minerva asked, trying to regain her composure.

"Yes," Kingsley said, "One of the tracking charms that Potter did not manage to take off is pointing just below here."

"Well then," Albus said with too much cheer, "We will just have to look and see. Shall we?"

The seven of them walked around what turned out to be a balcony of sorts where couches and tables were set up with two bars along both sides of the room. On the corner of each room were a set of stairs leading down to a massive dance floor with a hallway leading to what seemed to be bathrooms. A DJ was playing music on a platform against the far wall and what looked like thousands of young males and females were grating against each other in a semblance of a dance, swaying to the music.

"Is that dancing?" Tonks hissed, looking down at the dance floor, "It looks like they are having sex down there!"

"How are we supposed to find Harry in all this?" Sirius asked.

"Remus?" Albus asked, turning to the werewolf.

Remus shook his head his hand clamped down over his nose, "Sorry. I can't. The smells are too strong in here."

"What can you smell?" Sirius questioned.

"Alcohol, sweat and sex. It's too much," he said his voice muffled behind his hand.

"Guess we have to do it the old fashioned way," Kingsley said.

"Should we go down there?" Tonks asked.

"No," It would be better if we stayed up here and see if we can spot him," Kingsley answered.

"Just look for his hair, it shouldn't be too hard to find the blue on black," Sirius said.

Easier said than done. They spent the next half hour searching through the moving bodies for any sign of Harry, but with all the vibrant colors and skimpy outfits it was hard to do. When they were about to deicide to try and brave the mass of bodies in the dance floor, Severus suddenly spoke up.

"There."

"Where?" Tonks asked in relief.

Severus pointed down at the floor, "Toward the outside near the wall on the left."

They all roamed their eyes over the spot indicated and eventually found him. When they did, all they could do was stare.

There Harry was dancing to the music…between two very attractive and hardly dressed men; grating against each other in a most inappropriate way. He was smiling in a most seductive way, an arm wrapped around the neck of male in front of him dancing against him provocatively while the other man pressed against him from behind. Harry had his head tiled back slightly and the man behind him was lightly kissing his neck and grinding himself against Harry's backside. Yet Harry didn't push him away, if anything he was enjoying himself.

"Oh my god," Tonks breathed.

"What are those guys doing to my godson?" Sirius seethed in anger.

"Potter seems to know exactly what he is doing, Black," Severus sneered.

"I didn't ask you Snivellus!" Sirius snapped at him.

"Sirius, please," Remus said warily.

Severus and Sirius glared at each other from across the table. Abruptly Sirius turned away, "I'm going down there and getting my godson away from those idiots. Who do they think they are?"

"You don't want to spook him," Kingsley said, grabbing Sirius' arm.

"Then what do you propose we do?"

"Surround him. That was he has no choice but to come quietly, unless he wants to cause a scene."

"He doesn't seem the type that wants that," Remus stated.

Kingsley nodded, "Exactly."

"Alright then. Remus, Sirius and Nymph- I mean Tonks, you three will go down and try to surround him. The rest of us will stay by the stairs in case he tries to run. Agreed?" Albus asked.

"Agreed." They answered.

"Wait! I lost him!" Sirius suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Remus asked looking around desperately.

"No, there he is," Kingsley said. He coughed and blushed lightly, "By the restrooms."

"Where?...oh," Remus said.

Harry was pressed against the wall near the restrooms making out with the guy from before who had been pressing against Harry from behind, the other no where to be seen. The two of them where going at it pretty strongly too.

"I guess that answers that question," Remus said hesitantly.

"Where are they going?" Sirius asked, his voice rising higher with each word.

Down below Harry had pushed the guy away and moved away, but then looked over his shoulder in a "come hither" way and led the guy down the hall to the bathroom.

"They're not, please tell me they're not," Sirius said desperately.

"I-I don't know," Remus said weakly.

"There isn't an exit that way is there?" Minerva asked.

"No. That part is all underground. No exit," Tonks confirmed.

They all stayed still, waiting; their earlier plan forgotten. Approximately 10 minutes went by before Harry stepped out of the hallway. His hair was mused, lips bruised from kisses and he looked utterly satisfied as he stepped back into the crowd. Two seconds later the guy stepped out of the hallway…zipping his pants.

"I'm going to kill him," Sirius snapped and took off toward the stairs.

"Sirius, wait!" Remus called out and followed.

Just as Sirius got to the stairs he looked up and came face to face with his godson.

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**Haha. I am so looking forward to all of your reactions to this. I was seriously laughing as I was typing this. I'm on a roll, I already am writing the next chapter. Don't know when I'll run out of steam but I'm really into this.**

**Don't forget to review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Still on my roll, here is the next chapter. My slash fans will like the beginning part. I haven't forgotten you! For those of you who don't like that sort of thing, skip the first 2 paragraphs.**

**edit: POV is fixed. Sorry I was tired and didn't know I was switching between 1st and 3rd person.**

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**Lost and Better Off Not Found**

**Chapter 3**

Harry led his dance partner down the crowded hallway full of couples making out to the men's restroom, swaying his hips as he went to keep his attention. Harry pushes open the door and immediately sounds of sex are coming from one of the stalls. He smirks, _Looks like I'm not the only one with the right idea._ He moves towards the open stall and gestures to the man following him inside. The man was slightly older than him, about seventeen or eighteen, not that he cared, as long as he was good looking, which he was.

As soon as the door is closed and the lock slid into place, we resume making out. It quickly escalates as his hands move to his pants. Harry pulls away and turns around while unzipping his pants. He passes the guy a condom, which he always carries with him and they finally get down to business. As the guy pushes into him, he lets out a pleasured cry, which quickly becomes a competition between him and the guy in the next stall. _I win._

When we finish he cleans himself up with his magic and leaves the stall. The couple in the stall beside us comes out and one of the guys nods his head at him, conceding in his victory. He smirks and leaves the bathroom, leaving the guy he was with to himself.

Harry makes his way to the stairs, it's about time he went home. He winces as he moves up the stairs as the burning in his backside makes itself known. _Next time I'm topping,_ he thought to himself.

As he gets to the last step he runs into a man with slightly long brown hair and grey eyes, he looks angry and he's kind of cute in that rugged kind of way. Their eyes meet and his face goes slack.

"Harry," the man whispered.

_Oh, crap. He's one of them, _he thinks. Harry quickly darts to the side and runs to the door, only to find his way blocked by a large black skinned man. He wheels back around and makes his way to the exit and makes it into the small hallway before he is grabbed around the middle.

"Let me go!" he yelled, struggling to get away, "Let me go damn it or I'll sue you for everything you have!"

"Stop your struggling Potter," the man with stringy black hair and a crooked nose snarled at me.

"Screw you. Get your fucking hands off me!" he snapped then promptly bites down on the arm holding him.

The man hisses in pain and abruptly lets go. Harry makes a beeline for the door and opens it into the cool night air. Just as he is about to disappear, he is tripped and bound by the black haired man.

"You little brat," he spits out.

"Severus, that is enough," says an elderly man as he comes out of the side door of the club. "Kingsley would you…"

The black skinned man "Kingsley" came forward and easily helped him up, but doesn't untie him.

"Let me go asswipe," Harry snapped as more people come out of the club.

"Afraid I can't do that," Kingsley said in a deep baritone.

"Sure you can," Harry said simply, "You just let my arms go, simple."

Kingsley chuckled and held onto him tighter, pinning his arms behind him with his own.

"No need to be so hostile, my boy," the elderly man said.

"Says you, you've been following me around for weeks."

"Why didn't you stop and meet us then?"

"I don't know who you are, you all might be rapists for all I know," Harry said angrily.

"I assure you that we are not rapists," the old man said kindly.

"He looks like one," Harry said gesturing with his head to the bat-like man.

Said man's eyes flash and puts up a wooden stick in his face, stepping close, "Arrogant, just like your father," he sneered.

Anger suddenly rushes through Harry and he swings his leg back and swiftly kicks him in the balls. It is entirely unexpected that the man does not dodge and cringes into himself. Harry has to commend him for not falling to the floor in agony.

The man with the grey eyes barks out a laugh and Harry can feel a smirk curve his mouth,_ I think I like this man._ Abruptly the smirk disappears and Harry's green eyes flash in anger, "Don't you dare talk about my father like that. I may not have known him but I won't stand for it."

"Severus, are you alright," a woman with her hair in a bun asked. Severus said nothing, unable to because of the pain, but he does stand up straight and glares at him. He have to give him credit for trying.

"Now Harry that wasn't very nice," the old man sternly said. Harry just shrugged. "Now I believe I should introduce myself. I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts. This is my colleague Professor Minerva McGonagall, and that young man over there, is Professor Severus Snape." _Oops._ "These two are Aurors Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphdora Tonks. And over here is Remus Lupin and Sirius Black."

"I'm your godfather," Sirius suddenly blurted out.

Harry raised an eyebrow and slowly smiled, "Are you serious?"

Sirius grinned, "Yup."

"Then where've you been?"

He slumped his shoulders and looked down at the ground, "Long story," he mumbled.

"Then give me the short version," Harry replied.

"I was in Azkaban," Sirius said, at Harry's blank look he elaborated, "Wizarding prison."

"You were in prison?" Harry asked incredulously. At Sirius' nod he thought for a moment before he said, "Cool. What were you in for?"

"I was falsely imprisoned."

"For what?"

"Murder."

"…Very cool." Harry said nodding, "I like you."

Sirius smiled, "Good."

"So," Harry asked looking around at everyone, "What do you want? And can you please untie me?"

"Do you promise not to take off?" Dumbledore asked.

"No."

"Then we will not untie you."

"Fine, fine. I won't run off…immediately."

Dumbledore thought for a moment, then nodded, "Good enough," and the ropes untie them selves and disappear.

Harry stepped away from Kingsley and stretched his arms to get feeling back into them. He is then handed an envelope with his name on it in green ink. He read through its contents with his brow raised in astonishment. He knew there was magic and that there were people out there that were like him, but an actual school…

"You were originally supposed to receive this when you were eleven but the owls that were supposed to deliver it could not find you," Dumbledore supplied him.

"So you had to come looking for me?"

"Precisely."

"Huh," Harry hummed thoughtfully, "So I'm supposed to go to this school of yours to learn magic?"

"Yes."

"How long do I have to stay there?"

"It's like a boarding school," Remus explained, "You'll be there ten months out of the year for seven years or four now."

"I see…"

"So, will you go?" Dumbledore asked.

"I'll think about it," Harry said and promptly disappeared.

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**So there you go, they caught him and now he is gone again. I hope Harry's independent, wild personality is coming through alright, I haven't ever really written a story like this before, but I'm trying. ****I'm tired and going to bed. **Until tomorrow then! 


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm so glad that you guys like this. It was just something that popped into my head while I was watching TV, I don't remember what I was watching but, this sucker came out of it. Anyways, We learn more about Harry in this chapter. Enjoy!**

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**Lost and Better Off Not Found**

**Chapter 4**

Harry returned home to his small apartment and flopped down onto his couch. He read through his letter once again and can't help but feel excitement bubbling up inside him. Learning magic, actual magic; it was almost a dream come true. There was only so much he could learn on his own and going to Hogwarts he would be able to learn all kinds of new things. But going to this school would mean he would be stuck there, unable to leave and have fun. He would also have to quit work for a while and stop going to school. But it was _magic_, where he belonged.

He sighed. Decisions, decisions.

Well, going to this new school of magic meant he didn't even _have_ to go to boring old high school. Harry could always find new ways to have fun, with new people too; that was always fun. But that left his work. He needed money to pay his bills and his rent and that was another thing, what would he do about his apartment?

Harry supposed he could pay the rent in advance, maybe even talk his landlord into lowering the price since he wouldn't even be there. Bills could always be forwarded or stopped since he wouldn't be using some of the stuff, like electricity. And work…he probably could have his boss hold his position until he came back and be a part-time worker. If that didn't work he could always get a new job…

Ugh. Too much thinking! He was going to bed.

xxx

The next day Harry decided to give Hogwarts a try. That decision made, he went to work. While there he told his boss about his plans for a new school. He had been understandably upset at having to lose such a hard, dedicated worker but it was an Ivy League school, who was he to stop him?...what? He couldn't tell a little white lie? It had worked out for Harry in the long run. He would be taken off the payroll but he had a job when he came back for vacation so that was cool, even if it was just for two months.

Harry left work in a good mood and started home only to find his "followers" down the street, though there were fewer of them this time. They were obviously having a hard time finding him even though they were in his general area. It probably had to do with his magic. He had run into some nasty people when he was living on the streets and had used his magic to hide himself from enemies or anyone who wished to do him harm. It had worked too because they never bothered him again, even if he was standing right next to them.

It obviously even worked on these experienced wizards because he was standing in the middle of the sidewalk and they didn't see him.

Harry decided to give them a break. "Hey!" he called out and they turned.

"Harry!" Sirius greeted in relief.

"You know I said I would think about it," Harry said.

"I know, but what if after you thought about it you couldn't contact us to tell us what you thought?" Sirius explained with a big breath.

"I would have found a way, besides I found you didn't I?

"True. So have you thought about it?"

"Yes."

"And?"

Harry said nothing for a moment watching Sirius' eager face, like a puppy waiting for a treat. "I'm in."

Sirius grinned in happiness, "Did you hear that Moony? He's in!"

"I heard," Remus said tiredly.

Harry had to grin as Sirius started to bounce on the balls of his feet in his excitement. "So where's the pink haired chick? She was cute."

"I thought you were gay," Sirius said.

"Gay? What gave you that idea?"

"The bar…." He trained off uncertainly.

"Just because I was at a gay bar doesn't mean I'm gay," Harry stated.

"But- You-that guy-" Sirius sputtered.

"Oh. Saw that did you?" Harry shrugged.

"But Tonks…you said…"

"That she was cute, yes. I'm into girls too. The term is bisexual. Top, bottom, gay, straight. I don't really care as long as I get laid." Harry explained simply.

"I…see…"

"So where's rest of your possé?" Harry asked again, trying to get back subject seeing as Sirius was having a hard time comprehending what he just said.

"My what?" Sirius asked completely confused.

Harry rolled his eyes, "The other people that were with you yesterday?"

Dumbledore stepped forward and answered his question, "Kingsley and Tonks have returned to work and Professors McGonagall and Snape have returned to class."

"Ah. I see. So how do I get to this school of yours?"

"You take the Hogwarts Express at Kings Cross Station. Platform 9 ¾," Remus explained.

Harry nodded in understanding, "Cool. Well see ya," he waved and turned to continue walking.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Sirius suddenly cried out, following.

"Home," Harry answered still walking.

"Why?"

"Because I was at work and now its time for me to go home," Harry explained like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"You work?"

Harry looked at him incredulously, "How else do you think I'm getting by?"

Sirius shrugged, "You stole from a bank?"

"Yeah, that didn't work out." Sirius stared at him. "It was a joke."

"Oh. Haha haha ha…"

Harry rolled his eyes and smiled, "You didn't think I really broke into a bank did you?"

"You look like you could."

"Thanks for your vote of confidence," Harry said dryly.

"I try. Soo…what do you do?"

"I'm a waiter at a restaurant down the street," he answered gesturing vaguely behind him.

"Cool," Sirius said bobbing his head.

Harry glanced back behind him to look at Remus who was listening to them with a slight smile and Dumbledore who was looking at everything in absentminded interest. "You're following me," he stated stopping in his tracks.

"Yeah…" Sirius said uncertainly.

Harry thought about the pros and cons of letting them follow him home and decided to just let them. They would find it eventually. He sighed and continued walking, "Come on then."

Sirius grinned and jogged to catch up with him, Remus and Dumbledore following close behind.

"So why did you call him Moony?" Harry asked.

"It's his Marauder name," Sirius explained.

"What's a Marauder?"

Sirius then began to explain while they continued to walk.

xxx

"…so I turned Peter in and cleared my name," Sirius finished.

Harry was silent for a moment as they walked up the steps of his apartment complex. It was a lot to take in; animagus,' stories about his father, Peter, who they called Wormtail, betraying them somehow, (Sirius hadn't gone into detail about it and Remus didn't either; seemed to make them both sad, so he didn't ask) and being framed for murder.

"Wow," he eventually said, "My godfather broke out of prison. Awesome."

"I know right?" Sirius said proudly, "And it's supposed to be impossible to break out."

"It's not something to be proud of Sirius," Remus said with a disapproving look, but a hint of a smile hovered on his lips.

"The hell it isn't!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Well," Harry said, "Here it is." He pulled out his keys and unlocked his door to his apartment and let them in.

"Nice," Sirius said impressed as he looked around.

The front door opened to a small living room with a used mismatched couch and recliner facing a small TV. A kitchen nook was on the left that had the essentials: stove, microwave, toaster and a small dining table with only 2 chairs. On the right was a door that led to his bedroom that had a connecting bathroom.

"It's not much, but its home," Harry said simply as he put his bag on the couch and walked to the kitchen, "Want something to drink? I have water, soda, I can make tea…"

"I'll have tea, please," Dumbledore said.

"Tea is fine," Remus said

"Me too," Sirius agreed.

"Okay," Harry said and put the kettle on the stove.

"How long have you been living here?" Remus asked taking a seat on the couch.

"Um…About six years."

"Only six?" Sirius asked, "Where were you before?"

"On the streets."

"On the streets?!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Yes well, they don't exactly let kids have their own place or have a job, but I managed to prove myself and got both," Harry said with a shrug.

Sirius gulped, "Was it hard?"

"I had my bad days," Harry said and didn't elaborate.

"Well now that you've had some time, maybe the Dursley's-" Dumbledore said calmly.

"No," Harry said flatly, narrowing his eyes in anger.

"No? Harry, my boy, I'm sure if you just-"

"No, and I mean no. I'm not going back to being their slave," Harry snapped.

Sirius and Remus sat up straight. "What do you mean slave?" Sirius asked sharply.

Harry got up and stomped to the kitchen as the kettle started whistling, "You heard me. They had me doing everything for them. Cleaning, gardening, cooking, I wasn't even four! And if I did something wrong, the slightest thing not to their exact instructions they would hit me. No, I got out and I am not going back. End of discussion. Here's your tea," he said shoving mugs at them.

Remus and Sirius glared daggers at Dumbledore. He had said he was safe!

"Surely it was not that bad?" Dumbledore asked.

"Oh it was. And I'm not exaggerating. If anything I'm toning it down." Which was true, he hadn't even gone into his living arrangements, his hand me downs or his food portions.

"It couldn't be…" Dumbledore said in denial.

"I have the scars to prove it, if you want me to show you," Harry answered flatly.

Remus shook his head, stricken, "No, you don't need to show us."

They were silent, sipping their tea as they let it sink in. During the silence Harry casually summoned the kettle over to them and poured himself more tea and settled it down on the table.

"That's impressive," Remus commented lightly.

"Thanks," Harry said stiffly.

"So…so, now that you are going to Hogwarts you're going to need school supplies," Sirius said, trying to lift up the mood.

"I do?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. Books and robes and potion ingredients…"

"Where do I get that?" he asked with interest.

"Diagon Alley," Remus said, "You've been there before haven't you. It's where you got your wand."

"Wand?" Harry asked confused.

"Yeah, it's how we do magic," Sirius said taking his out and showing him.

"Oh…I don't have one of those," Harry stated.

"You…don't have one?" Remus asked bewildered.

"Then, my boy, how have you been doing magic?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry lifted a brow puzzled before lifting a hand and flicking his fingers. The kettle on the table floated upward and poured tea into Remus' then Dumbledore's cup."

"Bloody hell!" Sirius exclaimed, "You can do wandless magic?"

"Yeah…so?" Harry said slowly.

"Wandless magic is very advanced magic Harry," Dumbledore explained looking at Harry with awe and admiration over his half moon spectacles, "There are very few people who can do such a thing."

"Really?" Harry said sitting back on the couch, "Can you do it?"

"I can, although it is limited," Dumbledore answered.

"Can you?" he asked Remus and Sirius.

"No," Remus said while Sirius shook his head. "Wandless magic is very draining and takes a lot of concentration which is why few can do it. Only very strong witches or wizards are able to accomplish it."

"Really? I've never had a problem," Harry said.

"How often do you use it?" Remus asked.

"Everyday for just about everything. Washing dishes, cleaning my room, folding clothes…"

"So just menial tasks?"

"Yeah. I had to knock out a dog that was chasing me once," Harry offered.

"How?" Sirius asked in awe.

"I just think it and it gets done."

"It seems to me that you will your magic into doing what you want instead of the usual incantations," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, "And with nothing else to channel it and lots of practice, wandless magic comes naturally to you. Fascinating."

"I didn't mean for that to happen. It's nothing special," Harry said sheepishly, scratching the side of his face.

"Nothing to be shy about Harry," Remus said warmly.

"Sure…so, I have to go shopping…?"

"Oh yeah," Sirius piped up, "We can take you if you want."

"That would be great."

"We can go tomorrow."

"I have work tomorrow morning so we can go later."

"Sounds good. We'll be here."

* * *

**That's right, Harry can do wandless magic because he's badass like that. Not that he's all powerful or anything, he's just got the hang of it more than others and because that's how he learned. Next chapter, Harry goes shopping. Oooh this is going to be fun.**

**Don't forget to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ha! Finally. I'm sorry it took so long, my computer finally decided to stop working on me. So my access to a computer is limited. But I finally got this typed out and here it is! **

**Before we start I had a review that had a question about the math of the years Harry was missing from chapter 1. So I'll explain it here.**

**Harry ran away from home at 4.**

**Hogwarts letters go out when the child is 11, so like everyone else Harry's letter went out too, only his came back. So when Harry was 11, the search for him started it. And it was 8 years from 4 to 11 that he had been missing.**

**It has been 3 years since the search started so Harry is now 14. So now he has been missing from 4 to 14. He has been missing for 10 years all together.**

**I hope that clarifies it for those of you who want to know.**

* * *

**Lost and Better Off Not Found**

**Chapter 5**

The next day Harry went to work like usual and then got home and took a shower before he was to go shopping for school supplies. He was really looking forward to it too, a whole other world right here in London, right under his nose. He was surprised he had never run into it before, he knew London pretty well after all. But wizards and witches were not good at hiding for nothing.

Knocking at his front door caught his attention and he quickly put the finishing touches with kohl around his eyes and left the bathroom. "Coming!" he called and opened the door to Sirius and Remus. "Only you two?"

"Yeah, Albus had to get back to his duties," Remus explained.

"You're stuck with us, kiddo!" Sirius said happily, bounding into the room. He turned and stared at Harry, "What is that?"

Harry looked down at his shirtless form, "What?"

"Is that a snake?"

Harry looked down again, specifically at the red snake tattoo wrapped around his right forearm, its head resting against his shoulder. "Yes it is."

"Okay, first. That is cool that you have a tattoo, and second, why a snake?"

"What's wrong with snakes?" Harry asked.

"They're slimy, sneaky, backstabbing-" Sirius started scowling deeply.

"…intelligent and insightful creatures," Harry finished for him, "You better not let Sylaria hear you say that."

"Who's Sylaria?" Sirius asked leaning against the couch. Feeling something touching his arm he looked down and jumped about a foot in the air, letting out a shout of surprise.

"That is Sylaria," Harry answered. There on the couch ledge was a snake, flicking her tongue out to taste the visitors.

"You have a snake?!" Sirius yelled.

"Yes I do. It's okay though, she's not poisonous," Harry said picking her up, "Though if she does bite you it's going to hurt." The snake rose and rubbed its head against Harry's cheek in affection and Harry smiled.

Remus could only stare in amazement as it seemed Harry and the snake, Sylaria, seemed remarkable in tune with each other. That was rare, even with magical snakes. She appeared to be a Scarlet Snake, like Harry said, non-venomous, a foot long, dark red with black and yellow bands around its body. It was an exact replica of the tattoo on Harry's arm. "Where'd you get i-her?" Remus asked conversationally.

"At an exotic reptile house," Harry answered, "She was only a couple inches when I got her; she's grown a lot since then."

"Don't you keep her in a cage?" Sirius asked warily.

"A cage? No that's barbaric. I mean she has a habitat over there," Harry said gesturing to a glass open box with sand and a big rock in it, "but it's open so she can go wherever she wants."

"You're not afraid of her getting out?"

"No, she understands not to leave the apartment," he said placing her down on the table in a patch of sunlight, where she curled up. "I'm going to finish getting ready." He said turning to the bedroom.

Their gazes were met by another sight. "You have another one?" Sirius exclaimed.

Harry looked over his shoulder at the dragon tattoo along the left side of his back. "Yeah. It hurt like a bitch, but it was worth it."

"That's so wicked," Sirius said in awe, "It looks so real."

"Yup," Harry said and left the room.

"Two tattoos Remus, two!" Sirius exclaimed.

"I know. Don't forget about the lip ring," Remus commented taking a seat on the couch.

Sirius sat down too and edged away from the snake on the table until he was next to Remus, "I don't know about this," he muttered, eyeing the snake.

"About what? The snake or Harry" Remus asked.

Sirius was silent for a moment, "Both. I mean, I guess having a snake is okay, but Harry…he wasn't what I was expecting."

"Me neither. He's nothing like James and Lily."

"The streets probably did that," Sirius said softly, "I kind of like it and I kind of don't."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I like him because he's got that "I don't care what anybody thinks" sort of attitude and he's independent and that's cool, but a part of me doesn't really approve."

Remus smiled knowingly, "That's because you're his godfather. It's part of being a parent."

"I'm not sure I like it," Sirius grumbled.

"Well, now that we've found him and I'm sure you want to be a part of his life…" Sirius nodded eagerly. "You're going to have to decide what kind of parental figure you're going to be," Remus stated, "The stern and strict, no nonsense kind that carefully guides and nurtures to keep him on track or the cool, laidback kind that lets him do whatever he wants."

"Can't I be both? Cool and quietly stern, that keeps him on track?"

"Think you can do that?"

Sirius was silent for a moment, "…no."

"I didn't think so," Remus said with a smile.

"Then what do I do? I'm hardly the perfect role model. And Harry's practically raised himself, I don't even think he needs me," Sirius said with a sigh, "I'm missed my chance to be his godfather."

"No you haven't, he'll always need you, even if it doesn't look like it. He'll just need you in a different way."

"Like how?"

Remus thought for a moment, "You can be the cool, laidback type of parent who lends his silent support and is there when he needs advice."

Sirius nodded, "I can do that."

"Me too."

"Though I don't know if I can deal with that snake of his. It's staring at us."

They both looked at the red snake coiled on the table and she stared right back, flicking her tongue at them.

"Okay, ready," Harry announced coming into the living room. All three, human and snake, turned toward him.

"Are you?" Remus asked.

"Uh huh," Harry said.

"Nice shirt," Sirius said with a grin, taking in the fake blood stain.

"Thanks," Harry said absentmindedly, his attention caught by Sylaria.

**-Your new parentals were discussing how best to deal with you-** Sylaria hissed at him, **-The creature suggested that your dogfather be the cool yet there if you need him type-**

Harry smiled slightly. There if he needed him type, huh. He could live with that. Usually he only talked to Sylaria, she was the only one he could trust besides himself, though now…it was kind of nice to actually have someone care about him for a change that was human that is.

The rest of what Sylaria told him suddenly caught up with him. _Creature? _He looked closer at Remus, eyes narrowed, thinking back on what he knew about him.

"Something wrong?" Remus asked, noticing the stare.

"You're not fully human are you?" he asked. Remus' eyes widened and Sirius' jaw actually dropped. "Judging by your reaction, I'm right."

"H-How did you…" Remus whispered, shoulders tense.

"Sylaria told me," Harry said simply.

"She…told you," Remus said slowly.

"Yes, she said you were a creature."

"Wait, you can understand her?" Sirius asked eyes wide.

"Yup."

"You're a parselmouth?"

"I don't know what that means."

"It means you can speak to snakes," Remus explained.

"Oh. Then yes, I'm a…whatever you said."

"Parselmouth."

"Yeah that." Remus stared at him for a moment, before pinching the bridge of his nose. "Am I giving you a headache?' he asked. Remus looked up alarmed. "It's okay I get that reaction a lot."

"Parselmouth, huh?" Sirius said nervously, "How is that even possible?"

"Don't know, always been able to do it," Harry said with a shrug, "Is that a problem?"

"What? No," Sirius said quickly, shaking his head, "It's fine. It's just that parselmouths are really rare."

"Really? Awesome," Harry said with a grin and plopped himself down in the recliner, crossing his legs on the seat. "Okay, so," Harry said scrutinizing Remus carefully, "I don't know anything about the types of magical creatures there are but from my knowledge of "mythical creatures"" he said using air quotes, "Your eye color, the fact that you sniff the air when you walk into a room and the fact that your nickname is Moony. I'm going to guess that you're a werewolf."

This time both men had open mouths in amazement. Harry had to pat himself on the back with this feat, he really out did himself. "And again, by your reactions, I'm right."

"Holy Merlin's balls. It took us years to figure out what he was," Sirius exclaimed.

"Us meaning you and dad," Harry said and Sirius nodded. "Is that why you became animagus?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Just a guess," Harry said with a shrug.

"Do I really sniff the air?" Remus asked.

"Yeah you do Moony," Sirius said with a grin, "I thought you knew."

"No. I didn't," Remus said blushing slightly.

"It's not really noticeable," Harry said, "It's just an inhale when you walk in. I saw you do it yesterday when I brought you guys over and earlier when I let you in. So you are a werewolf?"

Remus nodded, "I was bitten when I was a child."

"Crazy," Harry said sitting back against the recliner, "I have a dogfather and a werewolf friend and am going to school to learn magic. This is the best week ever!"

"Dogfather?" Sirius asked.

"It's what Sylaria called you. It fits since you're my godfather and your animagus is a dog. If you don't like it too bad, it's already stuck," Harry said with a grin.

"Actually I like it," Sirius said with a grin.

"Wait, so you're okay…with me?" Remus asked uncertainly.

"Yeah sure. It's not like you're dangerous, I mean I'm sure you are during your, uh, "time of the month" but that's all."

"Moony has that under control," Sirius said quickly.

"There, s'all good."

"Really?" Remus asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"No everyone in the wizarding world is as…exceptive of my kind," Remus explained.

"Why? Besides, what 3 days out of the month, you're perfectly fine from what I see."

"Exactly!" Sirius exclaimed throwing his hands up.

Remus gave a tired smile, "Not everyone thinks that way."

"Well that sucks what a bunch of racists. Literally."

"Nothing we can do about that," Remus said simply.

"Well," Sirius said getting up, "Lets leave any more surprises for later, I don't think I can take any more right now. We need to get your stuff."

"Coot. Let's go then," Harry said getting up too. **–See you later Sylaria-**

**-Have fun Harry, don't burn anything down-**

**-I'll try not too-**

"Ooh that was weird," Sirius said shuttering at the hissing sounds.

"You're going to have to get used to it."

Sirius and Remus smiled, knowing that it implied that Harry wanted them around.

xxx

"Wow! This is fucking awesome," Harry breathed as they walked through the portal to the bustling crowds of Diagon Alley. People were glancing at him in curiosity and some alarm because of his outfit of black jeans, converse shoes and white "I'm Fine" t-shirt with a fake blood stain on the side, but he was used to people staring at him so he just ignored it. If anything he stared right back and then they looked away.

"This is where you buy all your stuff?" he asked, looking at all the old fashioned brick buildings and glimpsing into the windows to see what they had.

"There are more places similar but Diagon Alley is the biggest, thus more popular," Remus said.

"Cool, so where first?"

"We need to go to Gringotts first," Sirius said.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"Wizarding bank."

"A bank, you have a bank? Wait I have money?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Of course you do, did you think your mom and dad left you with nothing?" Sirius asked astonished.

"Well I couldn't really ask anyone could I?"

"No, I guess not."

"How much do I got?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, but I think they set up a trust vault for your education," Remus said.

The three of them headed up to the big marble building at the end of the alley and went inside. It was there that Harry saw his first magical creature, well second if you counted Remus.

"Funny looking things," Harry said softly.

"Don't let them hear that," Sirius whispered, "Goblins are nasty if you get them angry or owe them money."

Harry nodded as he looked around at the creatures at various desks; counting what looked like gold and helping customers. _Never piss off a goblin, check._ At the head desk Sirius handed over a little key, which was then given to Harry and told to "keep it safe." Then they were in a cart flying down a winding track deeper underground. Harry enjoyed every minute of it.

"That never gets old," Sirius said grinning from ear to ear.

"Wow that was so much fun! Can we go again?" Harry asked.

"After, we need to get your money first," Remus said with a smile.

They headed down to his vault where the goblin leading them opened the door and when it was Harry was greeted with the sight that he had no words to describe. There in is vault was mounds of golf, silver and bronze coins, filled to the brim with it.

Sirius whistled, "Wow."

"Holy fucking shit! Is this really all mine?" Harry asked in awe.

"Yes," Remus said chuckling.

"Son of a bitch! If I have all this why am I working?" Harry demanded.

"Wizarding currency can't be used in the muggle world, though you can exchange it at the front desk," Remus said.

"Really? Huh. What's a muggle?"

"Non-wizard folk."

"Ah." Harry took out a small bag that he was given earlier to hold money and started to examine the coins.

"The gold ones are Gallons, silver are Sickles and bronze are Knuts. There are seventeen Sickles in a Gallon, twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, simple enough," Remus explained.

Harry nodded, filing the information away and starting to fill his bag. "How much do I take?"

"Enough to buy your supplies for term and then some, ah and some to buy stuff in Hogsmeade," Sirius said.

"Hogsmeade?"

"A small wizarding village outside Hogwarts," he explained, Third years and up are allowed to visit on weekends. Which reminds me, I need to sign your form."

"Sign my form?" Harry asked.

"Yeah the one that came with your letter. Technically I am your legal guardian and in charge of you, and you need to have it signed by a guardian in order for you to go. Though you probably would have forged my name anyway."

Harry smirked. He probably would have.

Harry filled his bag and they got back into the cart. "Can we go faster?" Harry asked.

The goblin smirked, revealing sharp pointed teeth and set the cart into motion; gaining speed as they went. Sirius and Harry put their hands in the air and yelled as the cart zoomed back up to ground level. The cart stopped abruptly a few seconds later and Sirius and Harry awwd and leapt out of the cart.

"That was awesome!" Harry exclaimed.

"I didn't even know the carts went that fast," Sirius said.

"I think we went _to_ fast," Remus said holding a hand to his stomach. He looked like he was going to be sick, while Harry and Sirius were high on adrenaline.

"Fast is not fast enough," Harry wisely stated and Sirius agreed. The made their way out of the bank and out into the fresh air. "So, where do we start?" he asked rubbing his hands together. He had money in his pocket waiting to be spent.

"Well first you need a trunk to hold everything," Remus advised.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed and led them down the alley to a shop, _King's Trunks_.

They stepped into the small shop, a bell ringing above them, to reveal a larger shop on the inside. It was filled with different kinds of trunks of different colors and sizes.

Harry looked around suspiciously then at the door to the outside. He could have sworn that it didn't look that big. "Is it just me or does it look bigger in here than outside?"

"It's a charm," Remus explained, "It is used to expand the inside of things while making no changes on the outside.

"Ah, I see," Harry said thoughtfully, the possibilities of having such a thing running through his mind.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" a wizened old man asked coming toward them from the back. He was a short man with wisps of white hair stood in tuffs around his head and big round glasses adored his friendly face.

"Ah yes, we need a trunk with the standard spells," Sirius said.

"What are the standard spells?" Harry asked.

"Expansion charm and a charm that makes separate compartments," Remus said.

"Cool, is the expansion charm like the one on the shop?"

Remus smiled and nodded impressed, "Yes, but the larger the area the more magic it needs to fuel it. Remember that."

Harry nodded and went over to walk amongst the aisles of the trunks sitting on stands while Sirius negotiated what they needed, occasionally asking him questions on what he wanted. Remus walked with him as he looked around, mostly to keep an eye on him, he was guessing. Harry went up to a nice dark brown trunk, it seemed to be the standard size around there, and opened it up. Glancing inside he noticed that he couldn't see the bottom. He stuck his arm inside all the way to his shoulder and waved it around but didn't feel anything. Taking it out to peer inside and then stuck his head in as far as it could go. He felt a hand on his back and pulled his head back out.

"Be careful Harry, you don't want to get stuck," Remus said, but his amber eyes were sparkling with suppressed laughter. Harry grinned and nodded. "Like this one?"

"Yeah," Harry said, pulling the trunk off the shelf, where he dropped it. Sirius and the shop keeper looked over as Harry pulled it back up. "Is there a way to make this lighter?" he complained.

"I can put a feather light charm on it, if you would like," Mr. King, the shop keeper said and levitated his selected trunk onto the counter, then proceeding to place that charms.

"Cool, what else are you putting on it?"

"The standard of course, with extra compartments, though I don't know why," Sirius said.

Harry shrugged, "I like to read."

Sirius looked at him strangely before continuing, "We're putting a privacy charm on it and a locking charm so no one can get into it. Password protected. We can also put you initials on it if you want."

"Yeah, sure that's fine," Harry said inspecting his trunk, "Can you put wheels on it?"

"Wheels?" Mr. King asked confused.

"Yeah, here and here," Harry said pointing to one end of the trunk, "And a handle here at this end that I can pull up. Can you make them retractable so that they don't stick out? Oh and can you place a charm inside so that my stuff doesn't fall out when I'm rolling it?"

Mr. King did as he was asked and put retractable wheels and a handle and a modified sticking charm inside the trunk, smiling at the fabulous idea that this customer was giving him. Sales were going to go through the roof! "This is extraordinary," he whispered as Harry took down the trunk and rolled it after him around the shop by the handle.

"You don't have anything like this?" Sirius asked.

"No, I do not. It's the first I've ever seen and it was so simple…I can't wait to try it out on others!"

"If you're going to use my idea I want credit," Harry spoke up suddenly. Technically it wasn't his idea, it was a, what did Remus call them? Muggle, invention. Not that they needed to know that.

"Excuse me?" Mr. King asked bewildered.

"If you're going to use my idea I want part of the profit, if no then I'll sue," Harry said.

"Harry…" Remus started.

"No, I know my rights."

Mr. King thought for a moment, "Is it only for when I use your idea?" Harry nodded. He continued to think and decided to go with it. It was a wonderful idea and it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Think of all the gallons he would make on such a simple thing! And he wouldn't put it past this kid to sue him if he tried to use it.

"Do we have a deal?" Harry asked.

"We have a deal," Mr. King said and they shook hands.

Sirius and Remus could only stand there in shock and amazement as Harry made a business deal right in front of them. And he had did it so easily too!

"So how do you do things here?" Harry asked.

"A contract needs to be made," Remus said, "Those are drawn up at Gringotts."

"Okay then, let's go."

Thirty minutes later harry walked out of Gringotts with Remus, Sirius and Mr. King, a sealed and signed contract in his pocket. Harry shook hands with him again and they went their separate ways.

"I can't believe you just did that," Sirius said in disbelief.

Harry shrugged, "Have to make money some how." Sirius could only laugh at that and Harry smiled. "So what's next?"

They continued with their shopping, going from store to store to buy things that he needed for school. Potion ingredients, cauldrons, scales, parchment, quills and ink. Sirius even bought him a broom which, he should have guessed, he could fly on. Sirius said he would teach him how to fly. He was so looking forward to that. Next stop was to get robes from _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_, which was where he currently was.

He was standing on a stool in the back of the shop, draped with black cloth with the shop owner, Madam Malkin pinning them to the right place.

"So where do we go from here?" Harry asked.

"We can get you a pet from _Eeylops Owl Emporium_ across the way. You can get a cat, owl or a toad," Sirius replied.

"Hum. Toads are kind of gross, and I'm more of a dog person…" Sirius grinned at that, "So I guess an owl it is. Whoa!" he suddenly exclaimed as he felt a prick on his backside, "You're going to have to buy me dinner first sweetheart," he told her.

Madam Malkin's eyes went wide and a flush crept up her neck and ducked her head and quickly continued what she was doing. Sirius barked out a laugh and was hit in the arm my Remus, who was fighting a smile, to get him to stop. Soon after Harry was done and they left, winking at the shop owner as he past, which made her blush again. From there they headed across the street to the Owl Emporium.

Inside was dark and loud with noises coming from different cages with different animals inside. Remus and Sirius told him to look around to see what caught his eye, so he made his way around the shop. There was so many to choose from. He didn't want a noisy one; it would keep him up at night, and not one that was too messy. After a while he made it back to the counter, not finding anything he especially liked. That was when he saw her, a beautiful white snowy owl sitting majestically in her cage.

"Ah, pretty one ain't she," the shop keeper said as Harry spotted her and approached, "But I would advise against it though, she don't like no body. Almost took my finger off she did. She don't like…being touched…" he trailed off as Harry stuck his fingers inside the cage and started petting her. The owl hooted softly at him and rubbed herself against them. "Well, would you look at that? That's ne'er happen' befo'. Normally she would start screeching up a storm and start biting. She's been here for a few years and no body's wanted her and she didn't want them neither."

Harry smirked, "I have the magic touch. I'll take her."

After that he bought the white owl and she calmly sat in her cage as he strapped her down onto the top of his trunk he was rolling with him. As he looked into her yellow eyes he felt a sort of connection and he could tell that she was very smart. It was weird, as he saw her sitting there in the shop it almost seemed like she had been waiting for him. Who knew in this world.

"Okay kiddo, just two places left. Books and your wand," Sirius said as they headed to a busy book store called _Flourish and Blotts_.

Harry's eyes widened as they stepped into the bookstore. Books lined the walls on shelves and were stacked floor to ceiling, held no doubt by magic or it would have fallen, on what seemed like everything. He was in heaven. Harry made his way farther inside and made a bee line for the nearest shelf, skimming the titles and picking out a few on household charms, a history on the school and an interesting one on runes.

Sirius and Remus stared as Harry went shelf to shelf picking out books that interested him and making mental notes on ones he would like in the future. It was so far from what they were expecting of him that they did not know what to think. Looking at Harry it would seem that he would be bored out of his mind at the thought of picking up a book, forget about reading it. That thought had vanished the moment they saw the pure delight on Harry's face at all the books.

"Please don't tell me he's a bookworm," Sirius whispered in horror.

"Nothing wrong with that," Remus said back with a smile.

"He doesn't even _look_ like a bookworm."

"Looks can be deceiving."

"No kidding," he muttered.

Harry walked over with six books piled in his arms, "This should be good for now…what? I told you I like to read."

"I thought you were kidding," Sirius muttered.

"You still need your school books you know," Remus stated.

"Oh yeah."

Sirius shook his head while Remus smiled and led them to the counter where two attendants where taking care of customers. They moved over as one of them opened up.

"Is this all?" the attendant asked as Harry placed his selected books on the counter.

"No, we need Hogwarts books for year 4," Sirius said.

"Late arrival?" the attendant asked and Sirius nodded.

"Can you include all the books from years 1-3 too?" Harry asked. All three of them looked at him in surprise. "I'm a really late arrival. I have a lot of catching up to do," he said with a shrug.

The attendant nodded quickly and hurried to get all the books he asked for. They paid for the books and Harry tossed them into his trunk on top of his robes- he would organize it later. They left the store, leaving the attendant a very happy man.

"Okay. All that is left is your wand," Sirius said excitedly.

"Do I have to get one?" Harry asked.

Sirius looked at him incredulously, "Of course you do! Everyone has to have a wand."

"But I don't _need_ one. I can do magic just fine."

"Not all spells can be done without a wand," Remus said, "Some require more focus and control and you need a wand for that."

Harry considered it, "Okay, but I don't have to use it do I?"

"Only if you want to," Remus said.

Satisfied, Harry followed them to a small shop- _Ollivanders: Makers of Fine wands since 382 B.C._

"Seems kind of sketchy," Harry said eying the darkened door.

Remus laughed, "I assure you Ollivander is a good man."

"Kind of creepy though," Sirius muttered and they made their way inside.

The shop was dimly lit by a few candles and the light streaming through the only window. Rows of shelves lined the walls and in aisles filled with boxes of wands.

"I was wondering when I would be seeing you Mr. Potter," a voice said from the shadows making Harry, Sirius and Remus start and turn around toward the aisle where silver eyes glowed in the darkness. The eyes were then joined by the pale face of an older man with wrinkles and gray hair. He had a mysterious air around him and Harry wasn't sure if he should be impressed or creeped out. "A little late, but here nevertheless."

"Uh, sure," Harry replied uncertainly.

"It seems like just yesterday that I was selling your mother her first wand. Ten and quarter inches, swishy, made of willow, great for charm work," Ollivander said as he searched through the boxes and started pulling some down. "Your father on the other hand, favored mahogany, eleven inches, pliable, excellent for transfiguration."

He returned to the counter and looked up suddenly, "Remus Lupin. Eleven inches, Walnut, unicorn Hair. I trust it has served you well?"

"Yes, Mr. Ollivander," Remus said lightly touching his pocket where his wand rested.

Ollivander nodded then turned his sharp silvery eyes to Sirius, "Sirius Black. Ash, Dragon Heart-String, twelve and a half inches. Do you still have it?"

Sirius nodded, "They gave it back after I got out."

"Good, good. Your first wand can never be replaced, after all the wand chooses the wizard. Now to see what wand will choose you, Mr. Potter," he finished, turning toward Harry with a wand in his hand.

Harry gazed into the silver eyes and shivered. _Definitely creepy. _He looked down at the wand and took it. He barely grasped it when it was yanked out of his hand.

"Nope. Try this one," Ollivander said, handing him another one.

Harry barely touched it when it too was taken away. Thus it began the search for his wand. Sirius and Remus settled onto stools near the counter while Harry was left standing in the middle of the room going through what felt like every wand in the store. His feet were hurting, the jerks! Yet the longer it took, the more excited the old man got.

"Tricky customer, eh?" Ollivander asked going back down the aisle. Harry was ready to just give up, maybe it was a sign that he didn't need one, but then…"I wonder…" came a whisper from the aisle, then Ollivander came out with a single box and took out the wand and presented it to him.

Harry took the polished wood and felt a rush of warmth flood through him. The feeling of rightness filled him and he waved the wand and it emitted a shower of golden sparks. "Whoa," he said and Sirius and Remus clapped to express their excitement.

"Holy and Phoenix Feather, eleven inches," Ollivander stated, "Curious, very curious."

"Yeah, sure," Harry said edging away from the old man's strong gaze, "So is this it?" he asked turning the wand over in his fingers.

"Yup, neat huh?" Sirius asked.

"I guess," he said, swishing his wand side to side.

"It's not a sword you know," Sirius said with a smile.

Harry laughed before he concentrated on making a box float. The result was that it shot upward and hit the ceiling, "Whoa!"

"See how different it is with a wand? You don't need that much force," Remus said.

"It still feels weird," Harry said.

"You just need to get used to it," he said, Remus turned toward Ollivander. "I'm sorry but why did you say it was curious?"

Ollivander looked off, lost in thought before focusing his eyes on Harry's wand. "I remember every wand I've ever sold Mr. Lupin. It just so happened that the phoenix that gave its feather gave one other."

"And you made that into a wand too," Harry stated.

Ollivander nodded, "Thirteen and a half inches, Yew. Powerful, just like the man who wields it. That man has utilized his wand to the best of its capabilities and has done great things, terrible, yes, but great."

"Who is that man?" Remus whispered.

The shop owner gave his a knowing look, "We all know who he is Mr. Lupin."

Remus and Sirius' eyes widened in realization and horror, looking at the harmless wand in Harry's hand.

"Um…what?" Harry asked, confused.

"Nothing," Sirius said snapping out of it, "Let's get going shall we?"

Harry nodded and paid for his wand then they left the shop, "Let's, that guy gives me the creeps. Who where you talking about in there?"

"A really, really, _really_ bad man," Sirius said quietly.

Harry was silent for a moment looking at both of the older men's sober looks, "I'm hungry, any where to eat around here?"

"We can get ice cream over there. Fortescue's has the best flavors," Sirius stated.

"Awesome, can't go wrong with ice cream," Harry said and took off in the directing of the ice cream parlor.

Sirius slowed his steps to match Remus' steps and raised a brow at his pensive look; keeping an eye on Harry, he wouldn't put it past him to take off.

"If Ollivander is right about Harry's wand we need we need to talk to Dumbledore," Remus said quietly.

"We'll tell him at the meeting tomorrow," Sirius said and Remus nodded.

"What's taking you guys so long?" Harry called out to them from the ice cream shop.

"We're coming," Sirius called and joined him at the counter with Remus.

After they were done with their ice cream they left Diagon Alley and went back to Harry's place. Sirius and Remus shared stories of their Hogwarts days and the Maurarder adventures. It was nice to hear things about his parents and Harry drank in every word. Eventually Remus and Sirius had to leave and Harry was free to go through his purchases.

* * *

**So there you go, Harry had his shopping done! Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Finally got this chapter typed out. 14 pages can you believe it! Well here it is, enjoy the update!**

* * *

**Lost and Better Off Not Found**

**Chapter 6**

"Welcome everyone, welcome," Dumbledore said as everyone from the Order of the Phoenix was now situated around the table at Grimmauld's Place. Everyone quieted down and turned to the front. "Now, as everyone should now know, we have found Harry Potter." Whispers and mutters broke out then quieted. "He is fine and healthy and will be attending Hogwarts when the students return."

"Is he really alright Albus," Molly asked, "He was out there all alone…"

"Harry is fine Molly, my dear," Dumbledore said kindly, "He has done quite well for himself and is very independent."

"He's arrogant and sloppy is what he is," Snape sneered from his seat, arms crossed.

Instead of yelling back, Sirius smirked. "You're just saying that because he kicked you in the balls."

Some people gasped and asked Snape: "Is that true?" & "Did he really kick you?" Snape glared venomously at Sirius but he just grinned wider.

"Why would he do such a thing?" Arthur Weasley asked.

"He did call him a rapist," Tonks offered. Snape looked away and glared at the wall, ignoring everyone's stares.

"Yes well. Harry's a bit...different," Remus stated.

Sirius barked out a laugh, "That's an understatement."

"What do you mean?" Molly asked.

Sirius thought for a moment on how best to describe him, "Well you know how Bill has long hair and an earring and that you don't like it?"

"Yes..." she said cautiously.

"Well he's like that only ten times worse."

"You're definitely not going to like it," Tonks said.

"I like his already," Bill said. Molly looked stricken, no doubt imagining the worse.

"He's not that bad," Remus said, "A little eccentric maybe but he's a good kid."

"Yes, he certainly knows what he wants in life," Dumbledore agreed.

"He doesn't care what people think either," Sirius said.

"Well, if he is what you say he is then this year is bound to be interesting," Heista Jones commented.

"Indeed," Dumbledore said, "Sirius, Remus, how did you're shopping trip with Harry go?"

"It went well. Harry had fun," Remus said.

"He's a bookworm!" Sirius wailed.

"Sirius..." Remus signed.

"It's true. He bought a whole bunch of books and looked like he was having the time of his life in Florish & Blotts."

Dumbledore nodded, "It does seem to fit. I managed to obtain a copy of Harry's school records. Despite his appearance, he does quite well."

"Really?" Molly asked hopefully.

"Oh no!" Sirius said.

"It's not a bad thing," Remus said, "Besides you saw how Harry is."

Sirius thought for a minute, "You're right," he grinned, "Know what he did? Made a contract with the trunk shop on a new design."

"He did?" McGonagall asked surprised.

Remus chuckled, "Yes. The trunk has wheels and a long handle. Since it was Harry's idea, he got in on the profits with the shop owner."

They all had to laugh at that, it seemed that Harry Potter was a character, and it was only the beginning.

The meeting went on to talk about Death Eater movements and any other sightings of Voldemort. After an hour people started to leave.

"Um, Albus, can we talk to you for a moment?" Remus asked.

"Of course my boy," Dumbledore said, "What is it?"

"It's about Harry's wand..."

"Ah yes."

"You know?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, Ollivander owled me when you left his shop. You see, the phoenix feathers that we used are from Fawkes and when he gave two feathers instead of just one. I thought I might...keep tabs on them."

"And now Harry has one and Voldemort has the other," Remus whispered, "What does that mean?"

"Just another way they are connected," Dumbledore said.

"What do we do?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing. There us nothing we can do as the wand chooses the wizard."

"Okay then," Remus said, "It won't harm him or anything will it?"

"No, whatever affects it has remains to be seen but it very well may do nothing. Anything else?"

"No, I don't think-"

"Oh, Harry's a parselmouth," Sirius said, voice lowering in a whisper.

Dumbledore's eyes widened then turned thoughtful, "I see."

"He had a snake, he talks to it."

"Does he? Well that is..unexpected."

"We don't know how it happened. As far as we know there have never been ay parselmouths in the Potter family," Remus said.

"No, I think it has to do with the night Voldemort gave Harry that scar."

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked alarmed.

"It seems that Voldemort unintentually transferred some of his powers to Harry that night, parseltongue being the result," Dumbledore explained.

"There's nothing else is there?" Remus asked worriedly.

"There doesn't seem to be, but we will have to keep an eye on him and Harry being who he is, we will have to keep a very close eye on him," Dumbledore said.

"If he lets us," Sirius muttered.

"Exactly," Dumbledore agreed, "Well, I must be off. I have to prepare for the students arrival in a few days, especially Harry's. People need to be warned."

"Remus and Sirius laughed.

It would be a good idea to do so; who knew what Harry would do once he got to Hogwarts. But they already knew that it was certainly going to be an interesting year.

xxx

Harry was to leave for Hogwarts at the beginning of the new week on Sunday so that left him two days to get everything situated. Apparently, they had found him just in time for the new term. Everyone was gone for Christmas holiday so he would be returning with everyone else. Lucky him. So he had to hurry and get everything together. Luckily, everything went smoothly.

He stopped by his high school and dropped out; he really didn't want to but he couldn't be in two places at once. He could take classes during the summer, he promised himself, that way he would at least get his diploma. Harry also went to his landlord to tell her that he was going away for school. She said she would miss him but he would still have to pay rent, though not electricity and water. He set up the bank to make automatic deposits every month to her and she would put a receipt in his mailbox.

That was another thing he did; he figured out a way to get his mail. He got the idea from after he explained what Harry had been doing for years was called apparation. Appartation was to be in one place and appear in another, so he thought; why couldn't he do that to his mail? So he got a simple wooden box that he had made in shop class a long time ago to use to place his mail in; it had been gathering dust in his closet, who knew he would ever have a use for it. During the night he went down to the mail room and enchanted both his mail box and the wooden box, willing for his magic to do what he wanted. After a few tests it worked; anything placed in his mailbox at his apartment would automatically appear into his wooden box, that way he could get his mail at Hogwarts. Whether or not it would work within the wards of the school remained to be seen. If it didn't, Harry guess he could give his box key to Remus or Sirius to get his mail so that they could owl it to him.

After all that was worked out, Harry set to packing anything he would need. Books, clothes and toiletries all went into his new trunk. Everything that he had bought was organized and put back in, He was not sure if his cell phone, laptop or iPod would work or not since wizards and witches didn't really have electricity like Remus had told him, which would totally suck. He brought them anyway because who knew, maybe he could get them to run on magic. That would be awesome. He also put Sylaria's habitat inside, putting the lid on so that nothing would fall out. Sylaria would stay on him.

It had been kind of weird when his owl and Sylaria met. They had stared at each other for five minutes then seemed to come to some sort of agreement and left each other alone. Harry had been afraid that his new owl would attack Sylaria, but he didn't need to. They actually got along.

After that Harry went out and bought several composition notebooks then went home and started reading his new books, taking notes as he read. He did that for the rest of the week, trying to catch up on everything he had missed. He even found a name for his owl in _Hogwarts: A History_, Hedwig. It was a nice name and she seemed to like it.

Eventually it was Sunday and it was time to leave. He had told Remus and Sirius that he would meet them at King's Cross, so he said good bye to his land lady and made his way to the station.

"Hey kiddo. Have everything?" Sirius asked as he came up to them.

"Yup. So how am I supposed to get to this Platform 9 3/4?" Harry asked looking at his ticket.

"Come on, we'll show you," Sirius said and led them inside through the crowds to the correct platform.

"It's right through there. You can run if you're nervous," Remus said gesturing to the spans of wall between platforms 9 and 10.

Harry looked at the both of them and at the wall, then back. "Do you want me to hurt myself?" he asked flatly.

"No, no. It's just and enchantment. You go through it," Remus said.

Harry looked at the spans of wall in front of him distrustfully before walking up to it and pressing his hand against it; it went through. "Huh," he said thoughtfully before going completely through.

On the other side of the barrier, there were swarms of people; kids saying good bye to parents and boarding a beautiful scarlet train.

"Sure is something, isn't it?" Sirius asked appearing behind him with Remus.

"Yeah...and this will take me to Hogwarts?"

"Yup. It's what the Hogwarts Express is for. Let's go get you a seat."

"Oh duh," Harry said seeing the name in the side as they walked toward it. People stared at him because of his unusual outfit and appearance and also because they didn't know who he was. Others stared and pointed at his trunk that he was pulling behind him; some students turning to their parents and telling them that they wanted one. Harry smirked to himself, _Looks like business will be booming soon._

They found a compartment at the end of the train and they put his things away.

"Excited?" Sirius asked.

"A bit."

"Here I have something for you," he said and pulled out a small mirror that fit into his hand. "It's a two way mirror. I have the other one. All you have to do is say my name and I'll answer, you know, in case you want to talk or something."

Harry smiled and took it, "Thanks. I'll keep it on me."

"I have something too, though it isn't mine. It was your father's" Remus said handing him a package wrapped in brown paper. "Don't open it all the way," he said as Harry started to open it eagerly.

"Secret?" Harry asked lowering his voice.

"It's best that no one knows you have it," Sirius said wisely.

Harry nodded and tore it open on the side. Inside was a silvery material that seemed to shine. "What is it?"

"It's an invisibility cloak," Remus said.

"Invisibility? I can turn invisible? Awesome!" Harry exclaimed and started thinking of what h could do with it.

Sirius draped an arm over Remus' shoulders as he watched as Harry plotted. "He'll be a Maurarder yet Moony."

"I think he already it Padfoot."

"So this was my dad's?" Harry asked stuffing the material back into the paper.

"Yeah. It's been in your family for generations. Family heirloom. James had let Dumbledore borrow it before he died. We had him give it back so we could give it to you."

"So Dumbledore knows about it? Damn. Well, that's not going to stop me."

"That's my godson!" Sirius exclaimed proudly. He signed, "Too bad we couldn't give you the map."

"What map?"

"The Maurader's map. It's a map of Hogwarts. The four of us made it while we were in school. We lost it though."

"That's wicked cool. A map..."

The train behind them blew its whistle and started gathering steam.

"Time for you to go," Sirius said, "Pull a lot of pranks."

"Don't get caught and have fun," Remus said.

"I'll make you guys proud," Harry said and saluted. The other two saluted back with straight backs, gaining some unusual looks. Harry then boarded the train and away he went.

xxx

The train ride was uneventful and boring, he could hear others walking around outside his compartment talking to friends about their holiday. The only thing that happened was when a girl with bushy hair came in shortly after the train left the station.

"Oh hello. I thought it was empty."

"With all these people? Unlikely," Harry responded.

That got a small smile from the girl. "True," she muttered. "Do you mind?" she asked gesturing to the seat across from him.

Harry shrugged, "Sure. It doesn't have my name on it...yet."

The girl came in and put her trunk up into the rack and sat down, pulling a book of her own out. She glanced up at him. "I don't think I've seen you before."

"You haven't," he said simply, writing a note down on the margin of his book.

The girl floundered for a moment, "Ah..."

Harry glanced up at her, "I'm new."

"I figured. You're a little...older than what we usually get and late."

"My letter arrived late."

"I see. What year will you be in?"

"4th I believe, but I have a lot to catch up on."

"Oh, then we may have classes together," she said.

Harry hummed in the affirmative and continued reading. The girl in turn settled back and opened her book and started reading. The rest of the ride was quiet, interrupted only by the turning of pages.

Eventually Harry put his book away as the train stopped and followed the girl and the other students off the train to the platform and down a small road where carriages were waiting, being pulled by strange fragile looking horses.

"What the fuck are those?" he muttered eyeing them.

"They're Threstrals," came an airy voice from behind him.

Harry turned and saw a girl with long dirty blonde hair, wand sticking out from behind her ear and wearing weird looking blue and pink swirl paper glasses. "Are they?"

"Yes. Delightful creatures aren't they?"

Harry looked back at them. They were cool looking if a little odd. He watched as the other students simply ignored the reptilian horses, it was surprising really, they were hard to miss.

"They can't see them," the blonde girl said answering his unasked question.

"They can't?"

"No. Only those who have seen death can see them."

"Oh...you've seen someone die before?"

"My mum. One day a potion went badly wrong. I'm Luna by the way."

"Um, sorry and nice to meet you. I'm Harry."

"I know," she said looking up at his hair.

Harry grinned, he liked this girl. "I saw my parents die... I think."

"You think?"

"It's really fuzzy. I was a baby when it happened."

Hum," Luna hummed and stared at him with wide unblinking blue eyes.

Harry stared back, never one to back down from a staring contest. For several minutes they stared at each other, neither giving in; students started to notice, slowing down as the passed. It would have lasted longer but something ran into his from behind, making him lose concentration and he blinked. He whipped around to see a guy with slicked back white-blonde hair and sharp grey eyes with a haunty expressing. The boy was clearly a spoiled brat by his impeccable clothes and annoyed expression. "Watch where the fuck you're going!" Harry snapped at him before the boy could say anything and he turned away back to Luna, who was wearing an unnerving smile. "Damn," he muttered.

"We should find a carriage," Luna said absentmindedly and drifted toward one.

"Uh sure," Harry said with a shrug and followed. As they headed to one of the Threstral pulled carriages, Harry passed a fidgety, round faced boy with light brown hair looking unsure where he should go, holding what looked like a cactus close to his chest. He saw several other students, some dressed in their school robes, what looked like an army of redheads, that snob and his cronies and the bushy haired girl from earlier, all moving toward the awaiting carriages. The bushy haired girl looked like she was having trouble finding a spot too.

"There's still room," Luna said stepping into a carriage.

"Thought so," he said, "Back in a sec." He made his way back through some of the remaining students to the round faced boy and took his arm and started dragging him forward.

"Wha?" the boy stuttered, but followed meekly as they made their way to the bushy haired girl; Harry grabbed her arm too and headed back to the carriage.

"What are you doing? Unhand me!" the bushy haired girl said, tugging at her arm, but Harry held on.

He shoved both of them into the carriage where Luna was sitting and closed the door after him, "There, all full."

The two other students stared at him uncertainly. "Um, thank you," the girl said, straightening her skirt. She looked around at everyone, "Hello Neville. How was your holiday?"

The boy looked up, "Hi Hermione. It was okay, I guess. Yours?"

"Splendid. I went skiing in the Alps with my parents."

"How fun..."

"It was. What do you have there, Neville?"

"Oh, this?" Neville's face brightened, "_Mimbulus Mimbletonia_. I got it from my great uncle for Christmas."

"How nice!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Looks like a weird cactus to me," Harry commented.

"Oh...yeah I suppose," Neville said looking down at his plant.

"What does it do exactly?" Harry asked.

"Oh um. Here I'll show you," he took out a quill and went to prod it but Hermione stopped him.

"You don't want to do that. I read that Mimbulus Mimbletonia squirts out stink sap as a defense mechanism," she said.

"Oh...okay then," Neville said and put his quill away and Hermione turned to the other girl. "Luna," she said somewhat tightly, "How was your holiday?"

Luna looked up from her upside down magazine and blinked slowly, "Oh it was wonderful. Father and I went looking for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."

"Did you find any?" Harry asked, interested.

"No. We came close though. They are very good at hiding."

Hermione, her mouth growing thinner as Luna spoke turned to Harry the instant she stopped talking. "I'm sorry, how rude of me. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Hermione Granger and this is Neville Longbottom. You've already met Loony- I mean Luna Lovegood."

"Do you really?" Harry leered at Luna, lifting an eyebrow at her, but the blond wither didn't get it or didn't care as she kept reading. Hermione stared at him in disbelief that he had even said such a thing and looked at him disapprovingly. Harry just shrugged.

"You are?" she prompted.

"I'm Harry-" The carriages thumped to a stop and Harry looked out the window.

"Oh we're here," Hermione said and opened the carriage door and stepped out.

Harry followed and got his first look at Hogwarts. It was huge and absolutely incredible. It had an old yet homey feeling to it and it practically hummed with magic.

"Amazing isn't it?" Hermione asked looking up at the castle.

"It's not what I was expecting," he said.

"What _were_ you expecting?"

"A regular school, not this."

Hermione tsked, "Didn't you read _Hogwarts: A History_?"

"I did, but I thought they were joking."

She shrugged and led the way up the steps where they were met by a stern looking woman that Harry recognized as Professor McGonagall.

"Make your way to the Great Hall everyone. Mr. Winston stop that! Don't make me give you a detention."

Neville frowned, "Why are we going to the Great Hall?"

"Is that not normal?" Harry asked.

"No," Hermione answered, "Usually we go straight to our dorms. There's probably some sort of announcement."

"The whole school is here!" Neville exclaimed.

Indeed there was. Four tables were set up with students lining the benches, talking to each other. They were obviously set up according to Houses as was proved by Luna who said her goodbyes and headed off to a table to the right and Neville and Hermione went to another to the left. Harry was unsure of where to go until two arms draped themselves over his shoulders belonging to a set of redheaded twins.

"You must be-"

"-the new kid everyone-"

"-has been talking about," they said.

Harry grinned, "How can you tell?"

"Just a guess," the one on the left said.

"It wasn't hard," the one on the right said.

"What have they been saying, good things I hope. I want to leave a good impression," Harry said with a smirk. It was obvious that he really didn't care as was proven by his clothes or anything about him really.

"Love your shirt by the way," one of them said as they led him to a table to the left filled with rowdy teens.

"Thanks," Harry said smoothing his shirt. It was black with white lettering that said "An Apple a Day Will Keep Anyone Away If You throw Hard Enough." He loved personalized shirts and chose ones that he could relate to.

"We tried that once."

"Mum didn't like it though, gave Ronnie bruises."

"Ron's our brother, he's right there," the one on the left said pointing to another redhead that was around Harry's age.

"So," they said as they made him sit down with both of them on either side. "What's your name?"

"Where do you come from?"

"How old are you?"

"Why are you so late?"

"What's your favorite color?"

Hermione interrupted their line of questions with a sigh. "Fred, George leave him alone, he just got here. He doesn't need you pestering him."

"It's alright," he said, "Let's see...My name is Harry, I'm from London, I'm 14. My letter couldn't find me so I never got it when I was 11 until just recently and my favorite color is green."

The twins grinned, "We're going to get along great Harry I know it," Fred or George said.

"So you're letter couldn't find you?" a sandy haired boy asked.

"Nope. Apparently I was hidden somehow that owls couldn't fine me," Harry answered.

"Then how did you get it?" a dark skinned boy asked.

"It was hand delivered by the headmaster and a few others."

"Really?" Hand delivered?" Ron asked.

"I was a special case," Harry said with a shrug.

"Why-"

"Shh!" Hermione shushed as Dumbledore stood up to address them.

"Welcome back students, I hope you had a wonderful holiday..." Dumbledore started and Harry zoned out, looking around the Great Hall.

As he had noticed earlier the school was separated by houses with students sitting at their assigned table. There were actual ghosts floating around! The students didn't even seem to care.

"...I would like to remind you that certain objects are banned..."

There were floating candles overhead held up by some sort of spell.

"...new student here..."

He would hate to be under one in case one of them fell. Above that there was the ceiling, but he could hardly see it as it looked like you could see right through to the night sky.

"...needs to be sorted..."

Harry could see the clouds up in the sky along with the stars, it was a really nice night out.

"...would like to welcome Harry Potter."

It was kind of spooky being inside looking outside. He wondered how they did it, maybe if they told him he could recreate it at home...

Harry blinked and came back to reality to see people whispering amongst themselves and looking around with wide eyes. He probably should have been paying more attention. He looked up toward the professor's table and saw them whispering to each other too. Professor McGonagall was standing up front with a stool and an old hat.

"Harry Potter? Harry, come up here please," Dumbledore called.

"Oops that's me," Harry said, getting stares in his direction.

"Y-Your Harry Potter?" Hermione asked, eyes wide.

"Yup," he said and got up and headed toward the front of the hall, "'Sup Professor."

"Potter," McGonagall said, relieved, "Sit."

Harry stared at the stool then at the hat in here hand, "You putting that thing on my head? Where's it been?"

"Just sit Potter," McGonagall said warily.

"Fine but if I get something from it, it's on you," he said and sat down on the stool and McGonagall placed the hat on his head.

_Ah, I was wondering when you would show up Harry Potter. _a voice said.

_Holy shit! You can talk? Wait are you in my head?_

_Yes, I am the sorting hat and I-_

_Do you read everyone's mind? _Harry interrupted.

_Yes, everyone's mind is open for me to-_

_Pervert!_

_What? _ the sorting hat asked in disbelief.

_Reading people's minds? Who knows what you're looking at. Oh god, what are you looking at right now? You're not looking at what I was doing last night are you? Sicko!_

_No! Mr. Potter I only read surface thoughts to see the qualities that each person has to place them in their proper house._

_You better be, I don't want you blabbing any of my secrets or I'll sue you. I'll find a way even if you are a hat._

_...well Mr. Potter. You are hardly made for Hufflepuff. You are smart enough for Ravenclaw, cunning enough for Slytherin and brave enough for Gryfindor. While you would do well in Slytherin you are too...forward and brazen to fully fit there._

_Hey!_

_That leaves Ravenclaw or Gryfindor. Where to put you..._

_My parents came here right? What house were they in?_

_James Potter and Lily Evans? I remember, they were both in Gryfindor, _the hat replied

_And Sirius and Remus?_

_Ah, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin? Both in Gryfindor as well._

_Then there you have it. And hurry up your voice is giving me the creeps. I'm going to have nightmares. I better not get lice either._

Harry felt amusement and expatriation coming from the hat. _Alright then, better be- _"GRYFINDOR!" the hat shouted.

The whole school applauded, the table he was originally at the loudest of them all. Harry guessed that it was the Gryfindor table. How ironic that it was where he sat when he had come in. The hat was removed from his head and he was welcomed with open arms to the house of the lion.

* * *

**Hehe, I had fun with the hat can you tell. Actually I had a lot of fun with the whole chapter. Anyways, Harry is finally at Hogwarts and now let the real fun begin! Thoughts and praise are welcome!**


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